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Best Poems Written by Rob Gable

Below are the all-time best Rob Gable poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Rob Gable Poem

Very Bad News

Anna left early from Soho
But still she got caught in the storm
Due at 5:30, it’s quarter to ten
She should never have driven alone

Maybe she’s parked at a rest stop
Or maybe some roadside motel
Or maybe we never will see her again
You know sometimes it’s too close to tell

Why the fates change the rules
In the middle of the game is a mystery
And I hate to bear all of this very bad news
It’s just one point of view but what can you do when it’s history? 

Joey and Donna were married
Out of high school with nothing to show
But a rundown apartment with too many bills
And a bad case of nowhere to go

Maybe he really did love her
Maybe he took all the blame
Maybe he figured when he pulled the trigger
The two were both one and the same

Bobby had every advantage
Good childhood, and family and friends
And all the disposable income he wished
To buy every means to an end

Maybe he overextended
Maybe he took it too far
Or maybe he took it one too many times 
Dying ugly in some stranger’s car

Why the good all die young
One day here then too soon been and gone is a mystery
And I hate to bear all of this very bad news
It’s just one point of view but what can you do when it’s history? 

We play every game feeling lucky
Taking chances that we can’t take back
Poor decisions and accidents
These are the facts that distinguish the light from the black 

One day we live to the fullest
The next day we live in the past
One day we dance at the top of the world 
And one day will be suddenly last

We hang by a thread 
Between living and dead, for how long is a mystery 
So hard to hear all of this very bad news
Not much of a view, but what can you do?

When we live and we die in the blink of an eye
Never knowing the mystery
And I hate to bear all of this very bad news
But what can you do? 
What can you do when it’s history?

Details | Rob Gable Poem

Spring Road

Spring Road is quiet except for the dog
Ginger chases the deer and barks at the road
As the snow shines like diamonds in darkness, with the moon hanging low
Christmas came earlier this year than most
And I stare out the window alone as a ghost 
In this house full of silence that wasn't supposed to be so
The first one's the hardest, that's what they all tell me, you know

The kids were up early and under the tree
At a quarter to seven, but waited for me
To come down and play Santa, pass out all the toys that we bought
Trish made the turkey like you did last year
Bill and I watched the game, I drank too many beers
And we met at the door, shed a tear, and shared the same thought
The one thing that all of us wanted, nobody got

And I keep it together, I don't let it show for the sake of the kids
I wait for the quiet, save it for private like I always did

And it's lonely at Baxter's in the Friday night crowd
The place seems much too smoky, the band much too loud
They all send their condolences, nice, but it doesn't quite do
But the roof's finally fixed and we redid the floors
I'm still doing too much, maybe more than before
But it helps to keep busy, it helps to have something to do
All those things that we planned on but somehow just never got to

And I keep it together, I don't let it show for the sake of the kids
I wait for the quiet, save it for private like I always did
But I miss you so bad and I'm just so damn mad at you leaving like this

And Spring Road is quiet except for the song 
Of the birds in the morning and time marching on
So I while away at each day the best I know how
Birthdays will come, anniversaries will too
I will pass them all quietly, thinking of you
As I drink to your health, and drink to mine too and then sleep
Waking and wondering how all these memories will keep

Details | Rob Gable Poem

Crazy But It's True

I walked into the wasteland with no shoes upon my feet
And I vowed to reinvent myself for everyone I'd meet
I left behind Madonna with her fingers on the phone
As I wandered in the wilderness just hoping to atone
With my long lost companions by my side
My bad sense of humor and my last bit of pride

Well I met a bitter angel with a melancholy look
And I asked her to remember me in the pages of her book
She laughed and turned away just when I thought she might oblige
But she left me with her memories and a little slice of pie
Abused but unaffected, I'm reborn
To turn my back on Providence and my collar to the storm

I pulled my one-way ticket out
The one that you knew all about
And cashed it with just a passing glance
I waited for another sign
Some other way to pass the time
But only wasted one more second chance

I took the road less traveled with the whirlwind at my back
And the taste of misadventure covered all my crooked tracks
I met a dozen strangers with their backs against the wall
And their ears against the sidewalk just in case someone should call
Waiting for the headlights and the sound
Of the drawbridge getting higher and the kingdom coming down

So I looked in that direction when I thought no one would know
But I found myself in winter with my face beneath the snow
When I reached up for the surface I felt something start to give
And I grabbed the smoking embers of the way we used to live
With nothing between me and going home
And nothing left to do except to roll away the stone

It's crazy but it's true.

I stepped out of the darkness to find everybody home
And I waited for rebellion that I knew would never come
I felt the many traces of the road I left behind
So many different faces that I knew had once been mine
But every one was someone that they knew
The bitter and the righteous and the one I save for you

And so I stand before you now
A little lost, I don't know how
But all this madness is not lost on you
So you just smile and take me in
And pay the wages of my sin
And turn the page just like you always do

It's crazy but it's true.

Details | Rob Gable Poem

Leave It Lie

So this is where we leave it lie
This is where the tender words and flames of passion go to die
In dust and ashes blowing by and by
This is where we leave it, leave it lie

So this is how it finally ends
This is how it finally ends
This is how we come to pass, no longer lovers, no longer friends
I can't believe how long we played pretend
If this is how it ends, just let it end

With you in your world, me in mine, we try to leave it all behind us now
It never should have happened, we both know it
No one here got out alive, and everybody shows it

So this is how our lives go on
This is how the lying ends, the games we played, the things done wrong
Being where we don't belong
Far too late to walk away, but life goes on

With you in your world, me in mine, and all the wreckage left behind us now
It never should have happened, we both know it
No one here got out alive and everybody shows it

I see it all so clearly now
Too many welcomes overstayed, too many changes never made        
Too high a price forever paid, for what I just don't know
Cause every day we died one more death
And I don't believe we're finished yet
The wounds still weep, the blood still fresh and bitter
So bitter, baby

So this is where we leave it lie
This is how we start again pretending that we've never died
Waiting for the time to fly, knowing that we can't deny
That this is where we leave it...
And it's so hard to believe that...
This is where we leave it lie.

Details | Rob Gable Poem

Knoxville

I woke up in Knoxville with a rosary in my hand
And I’m not even catholic, maybe God will understand
Because the last thing I remember, I was hoping for a hand
And that was just before the lights went out exactly as he planned
I thought about just going home but I could hardly stand
But that’s alright.

I was cooking on an open fire eating everything but hope
Until the ashes that I left behind left just enough rope
For them to track me down and hang me but they only took my dope
And then they sent me on my way and tried to sell it to the pope
But he sent it right on back to me packed in some laundry soap
So that’s alright.

So I tried to show my penitence by dangling from a wire
While I was looking up to heaven I was feeling for the fire
But when I looked into the face of God, he just looked sick and tired
And said “Nobody cares what I might think ‘less I’m preaching to the choir”
I said, “Hold on now, wait, just come on back. Let’s make everyone a liar,
That’d be alright.”

So we got an understanding now, the man upstairs and me
And if I leave his well enough alone he’ll return the favor free
And I don’t owe nobody nothing that they do not owe to me
And I don’t worry ‘bout my journey home, ‘cause I got everything I need
This story comes full circle now, as anyone can see
We’re alright.

Because anything can happen down in Knoxville
On a Friday night.

Details | Rob Gable Poem

Take Me Now Away

Take me now away from trouble
I alone have brought to be
Lead my spirit through the darkness
Wash my body in the sea

Take me now away from crying
From my bondage set me free
Til I'm no longer scared of dying
Let the waves crash over me

Take me now away from hiding
From the dawning of the day
I'm so tired, Lord, of fighting
Won't you take me now away

Take me now away from feeling
In my pain and misery
That in despair I could find refuge
Won't you take it now from me

Take me now away from seeing
No way out and no way home
I can't find my way to heaven
I can't roll away the stone

So take me now away from trouble
From the worst that I can be
Lead my spirit though the darkness
From the darkest part of me

Details | Rob Gable Poem

Gently

We used to hear our voices on the winds that stirred the trees
And together watch the snow fall, every moment we would seize
Drinking till the morning light and sleeping on the beach
Funny how we thought we knew the things that life could teach us
So sure that death would never reach us

So many years between us, so much history has past
The changes we have gone through, all the things we thought would last
We thought we made our choices in the face of Destiny
But Destiny chose for us as far as I can see
It's just too bad for you, and worse for me

So bury deep the bones, and wipe away the tears
Set the dream in stone to last a thousand years
Listen to the breezes blow, and watch the silent falling snow
And the memories will know that I was here

I think a lot about us now looking back across the years
How we lived for every hope and dream, never dreaming of the fears we'd face
As time grows short, and colors bleed to white
The hour is upon us to at last give up the fight
I believe I'm going gently…

So bury deep the bones, and wipe away the tears
Set the dream in stone to last a thousand years
Listen to the breezes blow, and watch the silent falling snow
And the memories will know that I was here

Let the dying light remind me
Of the friends I leave behind me
I'll be thinking of you kindly as I leave with no regrets
There's nothing here for you now
Leave me gently, let me go
Tell me once more that you love me
So the memories will know.

Details | Rob Gable Poem

It's Time

When you reach for what you long for does it quickly slip your fingers
Like the days that pass discretely through the shadows of the years?
When you find you're just another person 
Kneeling at the alter of a need that never falters, does it bring you down to tears?

When you realize you're running on your own
When you find that you've been fighting all alone
When the slightest slip can cut you to the bone
Then you know that it's time to make a change

When the days turn into weeks turn into months turn into years
And every time you've tried to be yourself been nothing you could grasp
When the past and future haunt you and your passing friends they taunt you
All those dreams that never wanted you, can you put them down at last?

Losing witnesses before your trial comes
Losing face before you tuck your tail and run
Blinded by your distant setting sun
Then you know that it's time to make a change

Your expectations didn't turn out like you'd planned
But then you knew that long ago
You always thought you'd be a different kind of man
But life is what happens when you're making other plans

So you reach for what you long for but it quickly slip your fingers
And there's nothing you can do but watch it finally fade away
Lay the blame just like before on everybody else's door
Or take a road less traveled, live to die another day

Cause you know you've been running far too long
And every fight was yours and yours alone
So when you feel that fear deep in your bones
Then you know that it's time.

Details | Rob Gable Poem

Nothing Changes

I don’t want to go out
I don’t want to go anywhere 
That might serve to remind me
And I don’t want to stay in
I don’t want to begin to explore
All the wreckage behind me now

And I don’t want to stay here
Let me make that clear
I don’t like the bed that I’ve got to lie in
And I don’t want to move on
It’s been way too long 
To shed the skin that I’ve learned to survive in

If nothing changes, nothing changes
No matter where you go, there you are
Torn between the man you never could be,
The man you should be, and the one you are

I don’t want to be you
I don’t think I can do what it takes 
To make the truth stop stinging
And I don’t want to be me
I don’t think I can see my way out
Of this hole I keep digging now

If nothing changes, nothing changes
No matter where you go, there you are
Torn between the man you never could be,
The man you should be, and the one you are

How did I get where I am?
How did it go this far?
It’s not what I had planned.
How do I get where you are?
How did I lose control?
How did I lose the spark?
How do I find my way?
How did it get so dark?

If nothing changes, nothing changes
No matter where you go or who you are
Go on and run in any direction
You’ll be right there waiting if you get that far

Details | Rob Gable Poem

Dream Away

Another long day gone, it's no surprise
Another night has come so close your eyes
And dream blue skies and dragonflies
Just close your eyes

And dream a world that's full of wondrous things
Dream of all those things that dreaming brings
To queens and kings… even little ones
Wondrous things

Dream of everything that's good and right
Dream of innocence and dream of light
Dream a future that is shining bright
And dream of everyone
Everyone who's loving you tonight

The summer moon will shine to light your way
The stars will shine and chase your fears away
Til another day
So close your eyes and dream away

Another day is gone so close you eyes
And someday soon you'll be both strong and wise
The time will fly, but that's another day
So close your eyes
And dream away